Going to the Philippines was kind of a significant thing. My dad grew up there, and I still have family there. A while ago, my dad suggested that I go to the Philippines during my trip to see where he grew up and spend some time with family. I was a little hesitant at first- I think because I tend to assume that my whole life is in the US, (and a related consequence is that I haven’t spent much time with, and I’m not especially close to my extended family.) That being said, the more I thought about it, the more I agreed it would be a valuable thing to do with my parents. I’m profoundly thankful that I did. The featured image is of my dad and uncle selecting fresh vegetables for lunch at a market style restaurant that cooks live seafood and fresh produce to order. I guess in my head, for a second, I imagined them as boys doing something similar, 60 years ago in very different looking Philippines…
Some of the specific stuff that I’m thankful for from the visit-
I’m thankful for time to get to know my family a little more. I realized I don’t already have to be close them to make it valuable and meaningful to spend some time and get to know them a little better. Even if it’s just one conversation. That’s one more conversation not only of understanding them individually, but also of understanding my family as a whole. The most surreal thing is getting to know the younger generation a little bit. I used to be the youngest member of the family- the only child of the youngest to have children from my parents generation. Now many of my cousins kids are all going to college and finding jobs- and many of them I’ve only met once before when they were really young.
I’m thankful for what my parents, (and in this specific case my dad,) went through and accomplished to set up and provide for the life that I have now. More broadly, I’m thankful for what the older generations went through and accomplished to provide, really, an almost insanely privileged set of circumstances for my generation and the next. Basically going from refugees to being, especially by global standards, pretty wealthy. A related point is that I’m thankful for my life in the US, and all of the privilege and opportunity that comes with it. I guess there are certain degrees or aspects of gratitude that are only accessible when you have like… different/broader context or reference points. I think sometimes we’re not really able to be thankful for things we have until we’re made aware of, and become acquainted with people that don’t have it or have something different. There’s a certain kind of gratitude or appreciation for my life that… grew a little. I guess it’s not just the Philippines, it’s this whole trip… but something kind of got nailed home on during this stretch. I suppose that’s one of the benefits of travel… “fuller” gratitude.
So my first stop in the Philippines was Manila. I spent 5 days with my parents and family there. I think the highlights are just family dinners and hearing stories from my Dad and Uncle about growing up there. And of course, eating a lot of food. A few highlights include getting introduced to Halo Halo with my Dad and Uncle, and discovering Ube ice cream and cake. Crazy good stuff.
On 2/14, my parents and I, along with my aunt and uncle, flew to Cebu to see some other cousins. Cebu is a nice change of pace- it’s is smaller, so life is quite a bit nicer and more relaxed than in Manila. Like other big SE Asian cities, Manila can be pretty intense, with the crowds, traffic, dirtiness, etc. Cebu is growing, but less intense by comparison. Time spent in Cebu, again, mostly just more eating and relaxing with relatives. Cebu City, where my cousins live, was kind of a base for some solo travel I did around other parts of the island.
On 2/16, I headed out to Bantayan via public buses and ferries. I’m the first person in my family to either be willing or dumb enough to try local public transportation. Honestly, it was surprisingly reasonable and much less insane than I anticipated. It takes a while, but the buses have A/C, wifi, and pirated movies. Bantayan is a more remote island with some nice beaches. It’s still not entirely recovered from typhoon Haiyan. The first day I was there I rented a scooter from some local guy and just drove around the whole island. People there are really friendly and happy, which is pretty awesome to be around. There’s something really inspiring and humbling to see people who seem legitimately happy in spite of pretty challenging circumstances. The second day I hired a boat to take me snorkeling. Like a boat big enough for 15 people. I visited a private island and a few other areas to snorkel coral reefs. Pretty amazingly nice… also pretty surprising how affordable something like that can be. The coral reefs in the Philippines are something special. That evening I met some guys from Davao, a city in south. I got to know them a little- they offered me a plate full of fresh scallops, which was one of the better things I’ve eaten so far. I’m accustomed to getting scallops already cleaned and sterilized- just a neat little cylinder of tasty meat. These were still in the shell, still surrounded by the all the guts and gonads. Fresh and tasty. (The meat, not the guts and gonads.) We got in a discussion about politics. The mayor of Davao has been described as the Filipino version of Donald Trump. I guess I’ll just leave it at that.
On 2/19 I went back to Cebu City for a few days, then on 2/22 headed to the Oslob area to swim with whale sharks.
The Oslob area was pretty nice. It’s also pretty rural, although the area for whale shark viewing is now getting built out and overrun with tourists. The day I arrived I hired a local kid to drive me to a waterfall (Tumalog Falls) on his bike. On our way there he told me about the local village holding a cockfighting event. After seeing the waterfall, we headed up into the hills to the cockfighting- which turned out to be a pretty huge scene, probably around 250 people. This particular village holds cockfights twice a year, and I was lucky enough to visit during one of those days. It’s pretty brutal. I can’t say I enjoy the cockfighting itself, it’s pretty sad. But I did enjoy seeing a slice of the village life. The roosters are beautiful creatures… and for some reason the fights reminded of their dinosaur origins. Maybe it’s the way they puff their neck feathers out when they’re about to fight. The term “cocky” makes more sense and after seeing cocks before a fight. The villagers really seem to get a lot of … I wouldn’t necessarily say joy out of the enterprise, but it’s exciting, and pretty fun if you win money. It’s an energetic scene. There’s something intrinsic in the nature of the roosters, (that confers some advantages to the species and has been naturally selected I would assume,) that compels them to fight each other, and we asshole humans take advantage of it for our amusement. I guess there’s some easy/convenient analogy about how people who are compelled to resort of violence (either physically or emotionally) to solve personal problems are basically behaving like chickens or something… I just felt kind of bad for the roosters. The loser gets eaten too, but I don’t feel as bad about that I guess. Incidentally, Filipinos make outstanding fried chicken.
The next morning I had to get up at 5 AM to be ready to see whale sharks at 6 am. You get 30 minutes to swim with a bunch of people where local fisherman feed whale sharks. It’s pretty stunning and spectacular. The immediate moment after you jump into the water is a swirl of turbulence and darkness, and you have no idea what’s in front of you. After a second or two, when you’re eyes adjust… and when they come into focus, and it’s pretty shocking- I almost yelled through my snorkel. They’re really graceful, and it’s pretty awe inspiring to experience. But it’s also just a little weird and sad, with all the people and the knowledge that we’re interfering with nature- the shark’s migratory patterns, and their complex relationships with all of the different related animals and the ecosystem more broadly. That and the knowledge that around 1,000 people do the viewing a day now… makes me feel kind of bad for the sharks too.
After the whale sharks I headed to another part of Cebu to hang out with my parents and uncle at house in the mountains. There I finished a book on St. Francis of Assisi- the one by Chesterton. That book left a pretty huge impression on me- I’ll probably write more about it later, but I suspect that this is an area of inquiry that’s going to important for me.
The next day, we went back to Cebu city and celebrated my Aunt’s mother’s 96th birthday. The main point here is that I ate half a roasted pigs head. I’m a little conflicted about it. It’s so delicious, but it’s also really… violent and brutal in a way. It was also a pretty young piglet. Eating a baby animal’s face is kind of intense- you cannot escape the reality that you’re eating the remains of another animal that used to be alive, and had some level of awareness, and maybe even relational capacity. I guess this is just one of those areas in my life where I am willing to participate in something I think is morally problematic out of entirely selfish reasons. Maybe that’ll change, maybe not, who knows- at the moment there are other things that are a higher priority for me in terms of moral weight and urgency.
Speaking of weird moral dilemmas and food- I also had balut. See pics below. That’s also kind of intense. It’s also pretty delicious. It’s basically duck fetus. Bon Appetit.
On 2/26 we all headed back to Manila for a few more days before my time in the Philippines wrapped up. On 2/27 I visited the campus of Ateneo University, where a bunch of my cousins kids attend university. I think everyone has some pride about their college. It was fun to have them show me around, and interesting to see what college is like for these guys. It also hurts my brain that college started like 18 years ago for me.
Our last day there, my parents and I also spent some time visiting with another uncle who was dying, and has since passed. I’m just really thankful for that moment- not sure exactly how to articulate all that.
On 2/28, early in the morning I left for Singapore.
Be First to Comment